GAVIN Gunning knows defeats will keep Dundee United’s kids off the back pages – but only their chairman’s backbone will keep them at Tannadice through January.

The tiny Terrors’ six straight wins and goal-grabbing exploits during November and December earned them a blaze of publicity and plaudits.

Now three straight defeats have brought them crashing back to earth with a bump.

Gunning knows that doesn’t make them bad players overnight. He also knows it won’t stop the speculation.

However he believes they’ll all still be together long enough to prove they’re better than they’ve shown during the festive failures – thanks to the steely determination of club supremo Stephen Thompson

Gunning said: “Maybe with recent results January won’t be as hard to get through as it might have been!

“Which I can’t see, to be honest. Why am I that confident? The chairman, I suppose. He’s quite a steely character.

“And he’s tight, he’s not going to let any of these boys go for peanuts!

“It’ll be hard for a team to buy any of them.”

Gunning also believes kids such as Ryan Gauld will learn more from the knocks they’ve taken than they would from their victories.

He said: “Gauldy has found it hard the past few games. Teams are just roughing him about and it has been difficult for him.

“But he’s that good, he’ll be able to deal with it and come back stronger. It’s a good education for him, when he has the likes of Willo Flood and Barry Robson throwing him around the pitch. He’ll only get better from dealing with it.

“Ultimately they’re going to have to do better than they did against Aberdeen though. There was always a danger that you get talked up too much.

“Don’t get me wrong, the young players have been outstanding but the last few games they’ve been off the boil and they didn’t perform as they have been on Wednesday. What can you do, though?

“They’re still young. They have class and it’ll come through once they’re out of this wee dip.”

Last year, striker Johnny Russell admitted the incessant speculation over his future messed with his head and affected his form.

However straight-talking Gunning insists the current crop should just keep their heads down and get on with it until they see the colour of another club’s money.

He shrugged: “If you get linked with someone, what good is that?

“Until someone bids for you, it means nothing. Getting linked with someone is useless. It’s all s*** until the money is there.”

United host Hibs today determined to recapture the form that had the pundits purring. And the defender is convinced they can still reel in and overtake Motherwell.

Even if they do, though, he’s still not sure that would be enough to earn them second spot. Gunning said: “It will be tough for us to finish second but we have some confident guys in the dressing room.

“We’re not too bothered about the gap with Motherwell because I think we’ll catch them.

“They’re grinding out results without being the prettiest team to watch but Stuart McCall does a really good job for them. But I still think it will be Aberdeen who finish second.

“They’re an experienced team and more streetwise than we are. That’s why we lost 2-1 in our last outing. We were a bit naive.

“We’ve also hit a dip but hopefully against Hibs we can rectify that.”

Meanwhile, Gunning himself is free to talk to other clubs about a pre-contract after entering the final six months of his own deal.

The 22-year-old Irishman has already been linked with a move to Rangers but could yet sign an extended deal to stay on at United.

He said: “I’ve spoken to the gaffer, talks are ongoing and they seem keen to keep me.

“My future will look after itself, though, I don’t really worry that much about it.”